How to Not Feel Overwhelmed by New Years Resolutions

It’s that time of year again where we’re constantly bombarded with the question, “what are your new year’s resolutions?” For some, it’s no big deal. For others, it’s a feeling of pressure.

You’re already pressured by yourself to reach your resolution and then the thought of sharing it with people adds the pressure even more because you know you’ll have people out there who will be watching to see if you reach said goals.

I have a couple of ways to take the pressure off and I thought I’d share it with you guys today!

Biggest lesson I’ve learned about resolutions? Don’t share them.

“But Cat, someone asked me. It’s rude to not respond”. I’m not saying ignore they asked the question. Simply reply with, “It’s a bit of a personal one this year that I don’t really want to share”. Voila! If the other person can’t respect that, that’s their problem, not yours! Promise.

The other thing I learned about resolutions? Create an overall resolution and then divide it up into however many mini-parts it takes to reach said resolution. Sometimes we just take a broad look at our goal and we end up feeling defeated when we don’t reach our goals in an unrealistic time period.

A goal like one that is about getting healthy will take quite a bit of time. Health in itself is a journey and we have to find what is right for our bodies. So maybe instead of saying you’ll be doing only healthy things starting January 1st, say you’ll begin your health journey by improving on something every 2-3 weeks. It takes 21 days to form a new habit and getting healthy is one, so don’t be hard on yourself if it takes you a full year to get half-way to where you want to be. A lot of goals take time, be patient with yourself.

Which leads to my final lesson I’ve learned. Be patient with yourself. I know this is something I say in a lot of my posts but I honestly mean it. After having to deal with a brain tumour and Cushing’s disease, I’ve learned that we all need to be more patient and kind to ourselves. Not reaching a goal can feel defeating but you’re only human. Not reaching a certain goal doesn’t mean you’re a failure or that you can’t ever do anything. It just means you need to keep trying because not giving up is a success in itself.

So remember, this year don’t share your goals if it stresses you out, break your big goal into smaller and more attainable measures and be patient with yourself! Results for whatever you choose will come as long as you always choose to put yourself first in your goal!